Okay, let’s get the big-eared pachyderm out of the room nice and early. Yes, it has seemed to take an eon for Portstewart-born, Belfast-based based trio Axis Of to release their debut offering, but it’s most certainly been worth the wait. Not quite a ‘punk’ record, but an opus steeped in the values of punk rock, Finding St Kilda is full of prickly choruses, riffs which could level a mountain and oodles of goosebump-inducing outsider anthems.
Featuring 11 tracks that run to an economical 34 minutes, Axis Of’s first record sees the band not so much wearing their hearts on their sleeves, as nailing their still beating ventricles to the slab of wax for the world to see: their passion, and belief in what they’re doing, invests the music with a thoroughly righteous sense of purpose.
Opener ‘Cardiel’ is a punchy effort packed with gang vocals, a nursery rhyme-style melody and even a nod to ‘So You Wanna Be A Boxer’ from Bugsy Malone, confirming that they’ve come out fighting from the get-go. Album highlight is ‘Aung’, which sees a fuzz-laden, decidedly groovy riff do battle with a superfast hardcore punk chorus. But ‘We Dine On Seeds,’ which boasts a badass brass section at the halfway point, gives it a run for its money.
If there is a criticism of Finding St Kilda it’s that the constant shifts in dynamics can get a little predictable (‘Mapping St Kilda,’ ‘Stan Winston’s Rough Seas’) and at times they’re almost packing too much in, but the vocal performance from Ewen Friers throughout is superb. Axis Of are a band to believe in.